


Will should have been a merman.

by Pyjama_Punk



Category: H2O: Just Add Water
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Sophie only briefly appears., Will is also trans, Will should have been a merman, kinda the timeline of season 3 but changed, lewis is there, mer-transformation, polyam wlw, science boyfriends of merpeople get enthusiastic about mako, supportive boyfriends, the water tentacle appears once, wholesome gays, will is gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 18,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24682657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyjama_Punk/pseuds/Pyjama_Punk
Summary: I saw a tumblr post in which OP said that Will should have been a merman. So I wrote this.now for the summary of chapter one: Will goes for a late swim around mako during a full moon and the results are interesting. meanwhile Cleo and Rikki are at the cafe opening and so is Bella as part of the band. they meet at mako where the girls find Will, knocked out by the water tentacle. this also contains the vague plotline of the "Jungle-hunt" episode in which Will wants to go back to Mako and Bella, Rikki and Cleo try to keep him away from the moonpool.
Relationships: Emma Gilbert/Bella Hartley, Lewis McCartney/Cleo Sertori, Rikki Chadwick/Emma Gilbert, Rikki Chadwick/Emma Gilbert/Bella Hartley/Cleo Sertori, Will Benjamin/Original Character(s), Will/Tyler (male OC)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 8





	1. Interesting encounters of the magical kind

**Author's Note:**

> I might add a title that's midly better, because I can't think of one at the moment. (this entire story may contain copious typos and grammatical errors)   
> Also: Will being trans has no influence on his mertail colour. I decided all mako merpeople get orange tails (because I don't like the mako mermaids show). feel free to leave a comment even if it's a bunch of emojis or a keysmash.

Will was swimming through a section of reef, admiring the way it looked with the light of the setting sun. Something caught his eye, the entrance to a cave, it was emitting light as if thousands of bioluminescent organisms had gathered there. Diving through the entrance was easy. Will surfaced and took a breath 'wow' he thought as he looked up and saw the opening above him in the cone shaped ceilling of the cave. The full moon was illuminating the water and then tiny bubbles rose around Will's body. He turned his torch off and attached it to his belt. Seeing the cave with the moon as the sole lightsource was magical. The little bubbles started rising above the surface and emmitted a soft light like tiny oceanic glowworms. 

As the bubbles were dissapating Will decided to go explore more of the cave, turned his torch back on and climbed out of the water. The wall opposite the pool had water coming out of it, like a soft little waterfall. Suddenly there were darts of water shooting from the wall into the water of the pool, out of which a collumn of water rose, as if there was something alive, it turned to face Will and hesitated for a moment. The water-tentacle shoved him aside and he hit his head, the torch got flung aside. 

-mean while at the cafe opening-

„there's something I need to tell you“ said Cleo, taking Rikki's hand and leading her away from the cafe opening party. „so you say a splash of water smashed your mirror?“ said Riki „it wasn't just a splash, it attacked me!“ said Cleo, „but we're mermaids, water is our element“ replied Rikki „I know, but I know what I saw, besides it's a full moon.“ said Cleo „but I thought we got that under control. We haven't been moon sick since that time I almost burned down mako.“ said Rikki, not noticing the column of water rising out of the canal behind her, „is everthing okay?“ someone asked, it was Bella.

„wait shouldn't you be inside singing?“ asked Rikki, Bella looked a bit concerned „well I wanted to see if you're okay since you ran outside.“ Rikki asked why they wouldn't be, Cleo asked Bella to leave her and Rikki alone for a bit. „But there is something going on, something magical“ Bella said. Rikki crossed her arms, raised an eyebrow and said „oh come on, magic doesn't exist.“. Just as Rikki finished her sentence, a column of water sucked her up, headfirst into the water behind her, she re-surfaced just a a few meters away from the edge of the canal, screaming for help. Cleo immediatly went after her girlfriend, runing to the end of the small mooring platform, she dove into the water headfirst. Bella waited a bit and then jumped in the water aswell. As they sped up to catch up with Rikki, Cleo saw that Bella had a tail much like her own. 

They ended up at the moonpool. Bella and Cleo used their powers to get Rikki out of the iron grip of the tentacle. Bella turned the tentacle into jelly and just a second later it shattered

„are you okay“ asked Cleo, surfacing from the moonpool. „what was that?“ Rikki wanted to know „I don't know but it's gone now“ Cleo assurred her. „so you've got a tail too huh“ said Cleo. „yeah I..“ began Bella  
But Cleo shushed them as she heard a soft groan from where someone wearing swimgear was lying on their back. „We should go“ said Rikki, turning to leave „wait what if they're hurt?“ said Bella. So they all got out of the pool, Rikki steam dried them.

„oi, wake up“ said Rikki and nudged the knocked out person's shoulder, it was Will who sat up slowly, Rikki wanted to know why he was there „I was diving and came in here underwater. The wall was a waterfall and something came off it“ Will said „and then there was this thing coming from the pool, it felt like it was alive“. After introducing themselves to eachother Will went back into the pool and dove back through the underwater passage to the reef, back to his boat which was still anchored where he left it.

Will went to school the next day, where he saw the three girls he saw at mako island „hey there's one person I recognize“he said as he approached Bella „yeah. Hi Will.“ they walked together for a bit „I need to go back to that cave, I want to get a closer look“ Will said „do you want to come with me?“ Bella nodded „sure. How about we meet up after school tomorrow?“ she suggested. They agreed upon a time and went about their day.

Will went to dive in the morning as he did any other day and when he went into the water from his boat something changed, the divesuit had dissapeared and was replaced by a long shiny orange scaled tail with a partially translucent fluke at the end, the line that he would've clipped to the guide-rope had gone, along with the divewatch Will ususally wore while training as were his goggles. Extending his arms past his head as he usually did, Will dove and discovered he could go so much faster then he ever did before, and way deeper, past the depth-tag at the bottom of the guide-rope. Getting back to the surface was just a matter of a few fluke-flaps, allowing a smooth glide through the water. 

Will pulled himself back up into his boat and covered part of the tail in his towel in an attempt to hide it from anyone who might catch a glimpse. A few minutes passed and suddenly his legs were back, feet still in the foot-pockets of his monofin and his divesuit was miracolously dry. So he took the fin off and placed it next to him. 'damn now I need to explain to Sophie why I can't do the free-diving competition.' Will thought as he reached his boathouse and unlocked the door to put away his stuff. It took him a while to figure out that water caused the tranformation.

„So when are we going to the pool to get you competition-ready?“ asked Sophie over the phone „I can't.“ said Will „I have stuff to do, homework and groceries... anyways see you later bye“ he ended the call and went to school, he was running late a bit. The first class was particularily boring physics but atleast there was Bella sitting next to him to talk to. The day went by in a blur until Will remembered that they were going to explore mako island and he smiled to himself. 

Will arrived at mako by boat, with two backpacks with climbing gear for two and some snacks and water to drink. Bella was already standing at the beach „Hi, how'd you get here?“ Will asked „some friends dropped me off.“ said Bella and then went on about something else „so which way do we go?“ Will had dragged his boat ashore and was taking his backpack out of the boat and handed the other to Bella who pointed in some vague direction up a hill and said „that way“. 

After walking through the forest for some time they reached a small creek, Will found some shallow spots so he just went for it and Bella hesitated „I need to pee. Just go a little bit further and wait. Don't look“ she made sure Will was out of sight and aimed her hand at the water forming stepping stones with her powers, the stepping stones worked until she was halfway across and the jelly dissolved, getting more slippery each second, Bella tried to balance herself but the backpack was heavy and so she fell over, water splashing up around her, arms flailing she fell backwards into the shallow river. Mildly annoyed Bella decided to swim a bit upstream to hide when she saw Rikki emerging from the forest „what are you doing here?“ Bella asked „saving your scaled butt, don't move“ and so she pointed her palm at Bella and slowly curled her hand into a fist „ouch“ „hold still“. 

They could hear Will calling Bella's name from a distance so Rikki and Bella quickly got the backpack where Bella dropped it and Will appeared „I was looking for you. Are you okay?“ he asked „yeah. I twisted my ankle and Rikki here bandaged it“ Bella explained casually. „okay, maybe we take it easy and not climb the hill over there“ Will suggested. „Oh don't worry it doesn't hurt“ Bella assured him „there's a relatively smooth path over there“ said Rikki, grabbed Bella's hand and turned to follow the path. It ended up atop a waterfall. 

Meanwhile Cleo was in the cave of the moonpool joined by Lewis who wanted to do all the tests to find out what was up „ so this is watersample nr3 from the moon pool“ he said as he was labelling the container „and this with the rock samples might help me find out why the...“ he paused mid-sentence. 

Somewhere in the not too far distance, Will had slipped on the algae covered rock and through a hole into a side-arm of the moonpool cave. Bella and Rikki quickly followed him and went ahead to warn Cleo. „thanks, I already heard the noise earlier.“ said Lewis who was just done packing up his samples and equipment into a backpack. Will got up, wiping the sand off his shorts and appeared in the main cave a moment later „so this is where the pool is“ he said halfloud. and „Hi I don't think we met before“ a bit louder and directed at Lewis who introduced himself. 

„it's getting a bit late I should go“ Will turned to leave „but how do I climb out of this cave?“  
„there's a tunnel-arm that has some steps in it that leads up, I could show you the way“ Bella offered. Will accepted so they went back up. 

„do you need a lift back?“ Will asked „no, I'm going back with cleo and rikki“ Bella said and turned to go back to the moonpool cave, waiting until Will was out of sight and then jumping into the water, Bella swam back to the moonpool. 

Later that week Bella, Rikki and Cleo went for a swim, hanging out in the moonpool.  
„Ah shit now we need to keep Will away from mako“ said Rikki, „don't worry he won't find out“ said Cleo „I'm not sure he seemed really interested and asked me a billion questions.“Bella sounded a bit worried. Rikki shrugged and suggested they go swim with some seasonally-visiting rays. That helped Bella just a bit to take her mind of Will's curiosity about mako.

„No soph, I can't explain why but I'm busy so I'm not training today“ Will rolled his eyes and ended the call. He went to swim and this shiny new orange fishtail was better than any fibreglass monofin would ever be, Will was glad that he didn't buy one of those yet. Seeing clear underwater without goggles was fascinating, observing reef-fish was so much easier as they seemed to accept him as a part of the aquatic life. Another thing was that breathholds were a non-issue now as Will now seemed to have a lung capacity like a dolphin.

Will got carried away looking at the reefs that it was late afternoon as he got back to his boathouse, he pulled himself up the ladder, now this was something that the weighttraining sophie made him do made so much easier. Shaking off some drops off his hands they were suddenly completely dry. Some tentative fluke wiggling made Will's legs show for a second so he tried flapping the fluke, while being careful not to knock things over and his legs were back and dry. Mildly confused he got up and went inside.


	2. Full Moon prep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cleo, Rikki and Bella warn Will about the full moon after nearly getting stuck at school by rain, luckily his boyfriend Tyler gives them a Lift. Will reveals his secret to Tyler who is on board in helping. Lewis is there also in the supportive boyfriend/friend fraction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's chapter 2 with wholesome gays and realistic trans dude Will. Will's boyfriend Tyler is the same age and goes to a differnent school because of what he studies (not that that really plays a role here yet). Will's merman top is basically a cropped tanktop (the girls have their bikini tops so I figured I'd give him something too).

Just as the bell rang at the end of the day it started to rain, and not just a drizzle, it was bucketing, „ah great timing“ said Rikki and rolled her eyes.  
Cleo and Rikki had just gotten out of a particularly boring last period of maths. „we could wait until it stops“ suggested Cleo „I don't want to sleep at school!“ Rikki protested, „do you have a better idea?“ Cleo retorted. In that moment Bella appeared from her last class „Hi guys“ „oh hi Bella, I think we're stuck“ said Cleo „look it's pouring and we wouldn't make it ten meters without turning“ „I have an emergency umbrella with me but I'm not sure if we all fit.“ Bella offered. „thanks but I don't want to risk it.“ Rikki replied

Then someone appeared from inside the building, it was Will „Hi. Are you waiting for the rain to end?“ he asked „yeah, we don't want our stuff to get soaked“ said Bella.  
„My boyfriend's picking me up today and could give you a lift.“ Will said „oh that would be great“ said Cleo „but we'll just wait we don't have anything to do anyways“ Rikki nudged her and said „but waiting for who knows how long is not ideal.“

„it's okay, I'll just text him.“ Will assured them and pulled out his phone to send a message “mind having some extra passengers? I ran into some friends who need a ride” the answer came pretty much immediately ”sure meet me at the parking lot behind the science block in ten minutes” Will looked up from his phone and said „he's at the back of the science block in ten minutes, let's go“. Rikki grabbed Cleo's hand, Bella looked relieved and so all three followed Will to the student parking lot. 

Will's boyfriend Tyler drove them all home, luckily the rain cleared a bit when they reached the first stop. And started again as soon as they were safe from accidentally turning.

After the rain passed Will decided to go for a swim and ended up visiting the reef around mako and he went to rest a bit at the moon pool when he heard people surface „what are you doing here?“ asked a familiar voice, Will turned and saw it was Bella who asked him and Rikki and Cleo were close behind. „I went for a swim and the reef is beautiful“ he replied „wait what. You've got a tail too?“ asked Rikki „yeah I discovered that while back after the late dive to mako.“ Will said „so what power do you have?“ asked Cleo „you have powers? I don't know if I have any.“ he sat up on the edge of the moonpool. „but being able to stay under longer than I ever did and diving deeper than I ever could are really cool“ Will said „what exactly are your powers?“ he wanted to know  
„its a bit complicated“ said Rikki. „okay I just wanted to know but you don't have to tell me“.  
„it's fine“ said Bella „I can make anything with water into jelly and solidify it. But I was turned in a pool in Ireland and I was a kid.“ „cool. when I turned the first time I discovered something. Look“ Will said and scooted up out of the pool, he flapped his fluke once hard and a second later he was sitting there in his shorts, t-shirt and a swim-safe binder. Will stood up and stretched his back „ How did you do that?“ asked Cleo „I don't know. I flapped my fluke.“ he shrugged „I assume it's some lotus effect thing“ he added „well it's useful.“ said Bella „We could always ask Lewis“ suggested Cleo „don't worry he's known for years“. Will got back into the pool. „okay who's up for a swim around the reef?“ asked Rikki and turned to swim out to the open water, the others followed. 

It wasn't long until Sophie showed up as Will's door and tried to drag him to the pool and he didn't know how to handle it. The worst part was that it wasn't even over the phone. But in person.  
„Look I can't go, I really can't tell you why.“Will told her, „but you're throwing away years of training and opportunities!“ argued Sophie „Let me just make my own choices! It's my life.“ Will replied. „alright, but I don't want you loose the chance to become free-diving champion. Imagine the opportunities!“ Sophie retorted „I get it you don't want to be told what to do, all I ever did was with the intention to help.“ Will sighed and said „yeah but that didn't feel like help sometimes. More like being bossed around by my own sister. I don't want you to be my manager.“  
„alright then. I won't bother you“ Sophie replied and turned to leave „see you“.

Will relaxed when Sophie left and took his binder off, he'd had it on for a bit too long and damn that shoulder pain was bad. Will stretched some more and sat down at his desk/workbench, shoved some things aside and tried to do at least some homework. An hour late his phone buzzed a new message, it was Tyler “hey do you have time? I can come over”  
Will smiled and wrote a reply “yeah sure, I have to show you something” the reply back was “I can't wait. I'll be there in five” 

a short time after that someone knocked on the door. It was Tyler, he was the same height as Will and dressed in a flowy skirt and t-shirt „so you wanted to show me something?“ he asked Will nodded and took a cup of water from his desk, he sat down on a chair and poured some of the water over his legs „please don't tell anyone. It's a secret.“ Will said and just as Tyler said „of course I won't tell“ Will's legs vanished, and so did his clothes, he was wearing a scaled tank top matching the orange scaled tail „wow. That's cool“ Tyler said „was that why you and your friends couldn't walk when it rained“ Will nodded „yeah I didn't feel like falling over. Also look:“ he flapped the fluke and his human legs and clothes were back, he got up and put the cup on his desk „whoa. That's some lotus effect thing“ Tyler said obviously impressed „how did that happen?“ he asked „you know that island a bit off shore? Mako?“ Will asked, he got a nod as a reply. „well I went for a late dive and it was a full moon, there's a cave and the water turned into a bubbly-glowy pool so I guess that turned me.“Will explained. „ah sounds interesting“ said Tyler „so how long have you been a merman?“ he asked „about three weeks.“ Will replied. “since the last full moon”

Cleo, Rikki and Bella were at the beach, sitting on a towel. „I really need to go for a swim. All this schoolwork is exhausting.“said Bella, „yeah sure. I'll just put the towel on the rocks there so it doesn't get lost“ said Cleo. They got up, she folded it and picked a spot they could find later.  
They dove into the waves and some bubbles rose as their tails formed, Rikki held up three fingers to do a countdown to race each other to the moon pool. „so what do we do now that Will is also turned“ asked Bella „I don't know, I'm more worried about the tentacle.“said Cleo „whatever made it attack us is still here. I don't feel safe” “This is our place.” said Rikki I won't let some water splash scare me away”. “We need to warm him about the uncomfortable effects of the moon, you know the amnesia and doing things you normally wouldn't” said Cleo “you get affected by the full moon?” Bella seemed surprised at that “I only had a bad full moon once, I couldn't sleep and stared out the window.” she continued. “Oh. We had some really bad full moons” replied Cleo “yeah like when I set mako on fire” Rikki added. “Then we should definitely warn him” said Bella and turned to leave the moonpool. 

It had been a long afternoon of studying, Cleo, Rikki, Bella and Lewis had come over to Will “gah, the longer I look at this, the emptier my head feels” said Rikki and put her writing pad down.  
“Will we need to tell you something” said Cleo “since you're also a merperson, you need to avoid the full moon.” “but why?” he asked “because it's dangerous. You might do things you regret and not remember any of it” said Rikki “The next full moon is Saturday” said Lewis “Okay what do I do?” asked Will “stay inside and away from water, don't look at the moon or it's reflection.” Cleo listed “We sometimes do a sleepover during the moon.” Will nodded “So I avoid the moon and water, stay inside.” he listed “having someone there who isn't a merperson can help” said Cleo. “Lewis has helped us so many times”. “I could ask my boyfriend to come, he knows and won't tell anyone” said Will.

Someone knocked, so Will got up to open the door “Speaking of the devil”,  
Tyler came in, “hi everyone” he said with a wide smile. Lewis introduced himself and Will sat down on his sofa with Tyler next to him. “Next Saturday's a full moon, can you come over?” asked Will “is it because of the tail-thing?” Tyler asked “yes. The moon can have scary effects on merpeople.” Will replied. “we've been mermaids for a few years and we usually do a sleepover” said Cleo “because that way when one gets moonstruck the others are there to help.” “and me, usually” added Lewis. 

Tyler nodded “So at whose house is it this time? Or do you rotate? Because Saturday my parent's are visiting some friends in another town.” he said. “That's great dear” said Will. “that's really nice of you” said Cleo “yeah thanks for the offer” said Rikki, and Bella asked “neat. What do I bring?” “you don't have to bring pillows or blankets, there's enough” said Tyler “so maybe some films or I don't know facemasks.”he guessed. So they decided to meet up at Will's place to go together as he was the one who knew the way.


	3. Will's first full moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It has been nearly a month since Will got turned into a merman. Cleo and Rikki warn him about the moon so they decide to do a sleepover, Bella never had moon issues but she's not missing out. Will's boyfriend Tyler offers to host and they prepare for a nice evening, until something disturbs their quiet night. Later Sophie tries to get Will to go train again and they argue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this over the course of a day. if there are any typos and strange grammar, do point it out and I'll fix it.  
> leave a comment if you like.

The weekdays came and went and Will got more nervous every day, “Will you're clenching your jaw” said Bella on friday afternoon in the last lesson of the day, Biology which they had with Rikki and Cleo but they were across the room, Will nudged Bella's elbow and gave her a piece of paper that said “nervous bc the fullmoon tomorrow.” Bella read it “It's going to be okay. We'll all be there and make sure nothing happens” she assured him. That only marginally calmed Will but Bella was probably the most experienced of the group. 

Will went home after school and tried to distract himself a bit and then decided to text Tyler  
-“I am nervous abouth the moon”  
-“it's okay. I'll be there and so will the others”  
-“yeah like Bella who has been doing this since she was like ten” Will sent the reply and went back to arranging the various shells and jars on the shelf next to the desk. His phone buzzed again, it was in the newly made groupchat with everyone who was going to be at the sleepover and Rikki wrote: “so what time are we meeting? Because I checked the weather and it's supposed to rain.” Cleo sent a reply “good question. Let's all bring raincoats just to be sure.” Will wrote “what about three-ish in the afternoon at my house? then we can walk over to Tyler's house”. Will put his phone down and turned to finish carving a piece of driftwood into a fluke shape very much like his own fluke. He smiled and started tying a piece of cord around the top to make it into a necklace, he added a small cawry shell and a bead atop the shell. 

Satuday afternoon Bella, Cleo and Rikki gathered at Will's house “Hi, I just need to pack my bag then we can go.” he said. When Will was done they walked towards the nearby houses away from the canal. Rikki rang the doorbell and Tyler openend “Hi. Come in.” he held the door and gave will a kiss as he went through. “So I there's the tv, I have lots of films, well my sibling does, but they don't mind sharing them” he said. The girls put down their bags and Lewis arrived shortly after them “Sorry I'm late I forgot something”. “alright take a seat” Tyler said and pointed at the large sofa, the others were already seated “want something to drink?” he asked “thanks, uh some water would be nice” said Lewis and Tyler handed him a bottle. “wouldn't want to spill anything.” he said.

Tyler and Lewis started talking about mako and geology “I'm in a geology program with a focus on the oceanic geology.” Tyler said “which is mostly at uni and just a bit at school.” “guys which film do you want to watch?” asked Bella “I like this one” Rikki held up an action film “sure” Cleo agreed “hey earth to nerds” said Rikki “huh what?” asked Lewis “opinions on this film?” asked Bella “ah I don't mind that one.” he answered, Tyler put the film in and sat down in Will's lap and everyone settled on the sofa with popcorn and other snacks. As the credits rolled Lewis checked his watch “we have five minutes until the moon comes up” he announced. “So what do we do?” asked Tyler “I already put the blackout curtains up and covered the mirrors”. “we wait” said Rikki “hmm. We could watch more films or play a game.” Bella suggested “I brought a rock from mako home and I ment to ask you to give it a look” said Will to Tyler “I can always do that later, anyways what's it about mako?” Tyler asked “Well it's a former volcano and when the full moon's up anyone who gets into the moonpool gets a tail”said Cleo “well that's the gist of it”said Rikki “Bella why don't you tell the story of how you got turned” Will suggested “Okay. So we were living in Ireland and I went out to the coast, my parents were really busy, one day I found a small cave.” Bella started “and I felt drawn to it. I got into the water and when the moon came up I saw bubbles rise and the water had a glow to it. And then my legs vanished and turned into a tail.” “so it's the moon and seawater in a cave” said Tyler “basically.” said Cleo “I did tests on the water and rocks and even the sand and it was all pretty much normal.”said Lewis “I can do more tests if you like” offered Tyler “with more advanced equiment.” “thanks but I wouldn't risk exposing the secret” said Rikki “I could do the tests at home” said Tyler “or at my house” said Will “because that way it's safe from prying eyes”  
“okay but I'm still skeptical” said Rikki “calm down” said Bella “We can decide that later. When it's daytime”. Tyler interrupted “Why don't we play a game, I have cards and whatever else”.

It got late and gradually everyone got tired, they brushed their teeth and luckily no water tentacle appeared this time. Tyler, will and Bella pulled the couch out and the others got a matrass, eventually Will and Tyler cuddled up and everyone else settled. 

Will woke up soaked in sweat, he nudged Tyler “hey” he whispered “had a bad dream”, Tyler openend an eye and whispered back “come here” and hugged Will. “it's okay. I'm here”.  
On the couchtable that was pushed aside a column rose from the glass of water that Will had used with a straw earlier “no it's not look!” Will said and pointed at the glass “oh shit. Do we wake the others?” Tyler asked “or I could pour it into the sink” he offered. “yeah do the second thing.” Will replied. But it was too late and everyone else was waking up from the light that will turned on in his panic “ouch why do you have the light on?” Rikki asked, still sleepy and a bit pissed off “well we had a tentacle rise from the glass there” said Will and pointed at the glas on the table out of which a steady column rose “someone do something!” said Rikki a bit too loud and soon everone was awake, a bit cranky and soon it was decided that the people who couldn't grow tails should deal with the water. Bella did solidify the rising water a bit and Rikki melted it back down as it got poured down the sink drain. “now it's gone” said Tyler “for now” said Cleo, supressing a yawn. 

A while later the water began to rise from the sink. “Oh guys this is not good” said Bella “oh shit. This is really bad.” said Rikki “ can we do anything?” cleo asked “I don't think so, besides waiting there aren't that many options.”said Lewis. “the moon should've moved away from mako an hour ago” Rikki crossed her arms “that doesn't really help. But since I have no other suggestion it's better than nothing.” Will left the room to go to the bathroom, he got up from the toilet and ugh he's gotten his period at the worst possible time. Atleast the cramps had lessened since he started T but sadly the bleeding returned almost regularily, albeit less severe than before. Will went to wash his hands and managed to dry them quickly enough. When he returned to the living room and kitchen the others were sitting together “ah there you are” said Cleo “are you okay?” asked Tyler “yeah. Kinda. “ Will replied. Then when everyone was getting back to bed he murmured “got the period again. But no pain” Tyler seemed half-relieved “so do you want a heating pad or something?” he asked “no thanks, but hold me” Will answered.

“Sorry I woke you up” said Will “it's okay” said Bella, already half-asleep. 

It was morning when everyone woke up again, Cleo carefully pulled back a curtain to let some light in and Tyler opened a window. Will got up “hey you made it through your first full moon as merman” said Tyler, “thanks dear” said Will and they hugged and kissed “so what's for breakfast?” asked Rikki “I could make pancakes” said Tyler “or we go to my place and get fresh rolls on the way” suggested Will. “I wouldn't mind either, but I'm lactose intolerant and get an upset stomach from dairy” said Cleo “don't worry I'm vegan and I use an oat milksubstitute” Tyler assured her.  
“I could make crepes” said Bella “I don't like the thick small pancakes.”. Eventually they agreed on making crepes and were trying the jam Tyler had made a while back “hmm this jam is delicious” said Cleo “thanks” said Tyler “it's apple with cinnamon”. “my favourite” Will said whilst chewing “close your mouth that's gross” said Rikki. 

The following week Will decided to confront Sophie who had started nagging him again “Sophie please listen okay” Will said and Sophie interruped “sure but I worked my ass off to get you to this point. Also today the manager of a diving gear company is coming to your training” 

“No way. I can't go and train again.” said Will as he was getting more anxious by the second “I quit okay” he said defensively  
“You are throwing away your life!” Sophie retorted “you can't just stop so close to the goal” “you never listened when I said I don't want to compete anymore. I want to do something I decided myself for once, such as finishing school and then going to uni for something I am genuinely interested in!” Will said. “you can still do that and be a free-diving champion, the competition is only in a month!” Sophie sounded supremely dissapointed.  
“I can't let you boss me around. All the time! We're siblings and I don't want to ruin our relationship and you seem hellbent on it!” Will argued. Sophie took a deep breath. “Okay. I really overdid it when mum told me to look after you. I'm sorry” she said “I don't want to talk to her” said Will “you know she refuses to use my name and still doesn't get it” Sophie offered Will a hug, he nodded and they hugged. Sophie said “you'll always be my brother. No matter what anyone says. Even mum and dad”.

“thanks.” said Will “now can you let go now?” she did and said “Will when you need help call me, I'm off now I have a uni class to go to”.


	4. a scientific screw up and a welcome surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lewis experiments on moonpool water that he took to school so Ms Taylor the science teacher thinks it's his project to write a paper on. Cleo and Rikki meet a familiar face and Bella has a crush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lewis' experiments on moon pool water are taken from ep6 of season three (secrets and lies) but just the “lewis does the experiment and can't explain it”-bit at the beginning.

Lewis had purposefully come to school a bit early, to experiment with the moonpool water, he tried to pour it into a glass cylinder but the water plopped out of the flask it had been in and floated at face height, lewis managed to catch it and trap it in the cylinder with a lid, then he stacked two small disks on it and took his notes “so 300mls rises 500grams by 8 centimetres”

“Lewis. You know students aren't allowed in the lab before school without supervision” said someone it was Ms. Taylor, the science teacher, “it's just plain water, nothing to see” Lewis said as he hastily attempted to cover the set up but Ms Taylor already saw part of it “ how did you do that?” she asked “uh I don't really know that. Yet” said Lewis quickly. “well it's incredible” said Ms Taylor, “is this really just water?” “So you finally have something to hand in for the practise in writing scientific papers” she said “yes. yeah I do, I just have to figure out a few bugs.” Lewis said nervously, “if you fail this you fail the whole class” said Ms Taylor. In that moment Cleo appeared in the door “hey Lewis, shouldn't we go to history now?” “yes” lewis said mildly relieved and left the lab with Cleo. 

After school Lewis went to Cleo's house. “what were you thinking?” asked Cleo concerned, “well I just wanted to run a few tests, antigravity water is an important discovery” Lewis replied “but now in broad daylight, at school in the science lab!” Cleo retorted. “yes I wanted to gauge how powerful it is” Lewis said excitedly “defying gravity takes some serious energy, imagine all the applications! Renewable energy, transport and...” “Lewis!” Cleo interrupted him “that's magic water from mako, sooner or later people will want to know where you got it.” “yes.” Lewis sounded deflated “sorry, I know. You're right, I am getting carried away again.” “I get it, you want to know what's happening” said Cleo “and we all do, but until we find it out we need to keep it secret.” 

“I knew it!” said Rikki later when she was walking to the beach with Cleo when she told her what happened “we can't trust Lewis with the water, he just had to take it to school!” “I know he overdid it a bit” admitted Cleo “but he only did it to find out more about why the moonpool water is special” Rikki stopped and turned to Cleo “oh really so did he find out what causes the tentacle? ”Rikki asked “not exactly” said Cleo “you see.” said Rikki “he's trying to help” said Cleo “stop defending him, if he keeps doing this he'll only expose us” Rikki argued. “I already made him promise to keep it a secret.” Cleo assured her. “Did you see Bella today?”. “uh no but I know where she probably is”

When Cleo and Rikki arrived at the moonpool they found Bella, she was humming to herself  
“sounds like a love song” said Rikki, Bella looked up “maybe” she said “so what have you been up to?” asked Cleo “just thinking” said Bella. “about a special someone?” asked Rikki “yes.” admitted Bella and blushed. “this cute girl moved into the house next to my parents' last week” she added “and I think I have a crush”. “aww cute” said Rikki and grinned, “now come on I want to see if the reef sharks are still there”. The reef sharks were very much still there and came up to the girls and nearly demanded to be pet. “that was so strange” Rikki said later when they were sitting in her backyard, Rikki's dad had recently built a new bench and was happy to see the group. “I would have never thought I'd pet a shark” said Cleo “I think they're kinda cute” said Bella. 

The next day at school Rikki and Cleo couldn't believe their eyes when they saw who walked into the English class: it was Emma, she waved at them and sat down on the free seat next to Bella who tied to hide the fact that she was blushing. “Oh Emma I missed you so much” said Cleo when the lesson was over, “yeah I missed you too.” said Emma “and I missed you Rikki.” the three hugged and Bella introduced herself “you live next door” said Emma “yeah. I saw you move in last week” said Bella while trying to stay cool.  
The four girls spent the time after school swimming and having a chat at mako “So Bella, what's your power?” asked Emma “jelly-fying and solidifying” said Bella and proceeded to demonstrate on a blob of water that Cleo levitated above the water of the moon pool “cool” said Emma when she held the marble shaped blob “I freeze things”. “oh neat. You can have instant icy pops”said Bella “have you ever made something into instant jelly to eat”asked Emma “once, but it was back to liquid too quickly” Bella told her “So what did I miss?” Emma wanted to know “Well” said Cleo “there's a water tentacle that kidnapped Rikki and smashed my bathroom mirror”. Emma looked shocked “what the hell?”she said “so we need to find out why”. “yeah lewis wanted to”said Cleo “but, sorry Rikki, Rikki was not very happy about it.” “not very happy? Lewis took magical water to school!” said Rikki mildly angry but mostly concerned, “yeah but he knows it was a mistake and promised to keep it secret” said Cleo in an attempt to calm Rikki down a bit. “So he's working on it” said Emma. “yeah. And he wants to put the water back soon.”Cleo assured her “our secret is safe.”

Cleo and Lewis returned to mako to pour back the water samples Lewis took a while back. “it just seems like waste you know” said Cleo “This is like plutonium. Poisonous, dangerous and has the ability to do inflict damage on you, if you touch it. We need to get rid of it before the next full moon, as it could turn into another tentacle and it's already attacked you twice“Lewis retorted “but that's just more reasons to find out why it's happening, you know with a scientific curiosity” said Cleo “no. I won't risk that and just put it back please” said Lewis “oh alright, but it's cool. Can we just keep some?” Cleo said “no way” Lewis replied “your safety is more important some cool magic water” and turned away to inspect some rocks Cleo started to pour the water back and the decided to keep just a bit. “I'm done” she said as she screwed the lid back onto the flask lewis had been using for the sample. “want to go have lunch?” Cleo asked “yeah sure.” Lewis agreed and so they went back to the mainland.


	5. Magical Mishap or Hector's adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cleo's experiment on the magic water she kept goes wrong when Rikki tries to evaporate it. Later on Bella has a date, Cleo tells Lewis what happened and promises to put the rest of the water back. (basically some of ep9 of season three but wihtout the golfing).

One afternoon Will was hanging out with Tyler “Look I made a necklace with some driftwood” Will said and picked up the latest piece from his desk “looks cool.” said Tyler “you're really good at that” Will smiled “thank you”. Tyler reached into his trouser pocket and pulled something out “I found a nice rock the other day, could you make me a necklace with it?” he asked “sure, I can draw up some ideas” said Will “but now I really want to swim, you can use the monofin”. 

Tyler put on some goggles and a the borrowed monofin and slipped into the water next to Will, “so I can go really fast” said Will when Tyler needed a break to breathe a while later “and I wonder if I can give you a piggyback while going really fast” Tyler was exited to try and held on tight “okay let's go!” he said.

When they reached mako Will slowed down and both guys surfaced to take a breath. “wow that was surreal and really cool” said Tyler, a bit breathless, “now let's dive into the moonpool” said Will and they went down to the opening in the cave wall “this is cool” said Tyler, he was floating on his back, looking up into the cone above him “yeah. It is” Will agreed “and when it's a full moon it looks magical.” 

Cleo had kept some moonpool water and wanted to do more experiments, she just didn't want Lewis to know but the perfect opportunity came when Lewis was visiting his grandmother for her birthday. So Cleo called Rikki and Bella, told them to bring raincoats, Rikki was there first and arrived without said coat “why did you say to bring a raincoat?” she asked “it's not even cloudy outside” Cleo handed her a raincoat and said “you might change your mind when you see this” Cleo said and shook the flask a bit to get the water out “this is water from the waterfall and from the moonpool” she said “That's dangerous!” said Rikki “that stuff attacked me!” to that Cleo said “well it's not a full moon now so it's harmless. And we are going to do some tests and see how our powers affect it, you watch it I'm getting an eyedropper” Cleo left the room and Rikki tried to evaporate the floating blob. It split into a group of smaller round blobs that slowly spread around Cleo's room, Rikki backed out into the bathroom door and tried again, this time the blobs of water boiled and them evaporated. What she didn't notice was that they settled on a lamp above Cleo's aquarium that she kept her goldfish in, it slowly dripped into the water of the tank. 

Cleo heard a knock, “Hi Bella” she said before noticing it wasn't her “not Bella, but I am looking for her.” said Will in that moment Rikki called for Cleo from upstairs in a panicked tone. Cleo ran upstairs and saw that Hector, one of the goldfish was floating in a large blob of water. “that water's got a mind of it's own” said Rikki and pointed at the floating water.  
“What did you do?”Cleo asked “it was your idea” Rikki said defensively “but not like that”Cleo replied She grabbed two random bowls and said “well you're the person to do this” said Rikki “now concentrate and push him into this” she held up the bowls. The first attempt failed and Rikki had to climb up on Cleo's bed to try to reach the blob of floating water that encased Cleo's goldfish, and ten Will appeared in the door “are you okay? I heard a scream” he sounded a bit concerned.

Cleo was concentrating on keeping Hector were he was floating. Downstairs Bella just came in “sorry I'm late” she called “Hey Will could you go downstairs and tell Bella to come up?”Cleo asked “sure” said Will and went. Meanwhile Hector had floated into Cleo's bathroom and was over the tub. Rikki put the bowl over it and gently guided the blob onto the tub. The bowl slid onto the drain and down went the water “oh no Hector!” said Cleo. Bella came in the room and asked “what's going on?”. Rikki lifted the bowl up just to see the last bit of water go down. 

When Will came back inside he saw Rikki and Cleo run down the stairs “He's in the pipes!” yelled Cleo “ “who is?” asked Will but neither Rikki nor Cleo said anything to answer his question “so the pipes go there” said Cleo and went to the kitchen “okay so pull him out of the sink drain” said Rikki.  
Cleo was sceptical “really through there?” she said “yeah with your magic water thing.” said Rikki  
so Cleo tried “well I can feel him” she said “oh and now he's stuck” “well then try again” suggested Rikki “oh it's the S-bend! I can't get him through the S-bend!” said Cleo “I'll squish him” Rikki turned the tap on and suggested to flush Hector down even further, in response Cleo made a 'oh no' face and Rikki got impatient “or just leave him there” Cleo got pissed off and a jet of water came at Rikki who grew a tail “great” she flopped over and Cleo just said “oops” “well you could have tried to catch me” Rikki retorted and proceeded to evaporate the water to get her legs back.

As the steam cleared Rikki got up and went back to the kitchen “he's slipping” said Cleo while loosing her grip on Hector's bubble “He'll be okay “Rikki assured her “the water bubble will protect him” “He's in a drainpipe! He's used to fresh clean water”said Cleo anxiously “now he's going into the backyard” Rikki sat down next to Cleo on the floor and said “Calm down okay. We can still save him”. “I lost him” said Cleo almost on the verge of tears. In the meantime Bella was distracting Will to keep him away from Rikki and Cleo trying to get Hector back. Then she saw something and immediately texted Cleo to tell her to go out to the backyard, Cleo was shocked when she saw Hector floating around above the roof of the back porch, Will didn't really notice until Bella told Cleo to hold on to Hector “what's happening?” asked Will “too long of a story to explain” said Rikki. The wind had picked up and pushed Hector off over the canal Cleo, Bella and Rikki ran after him “If he falls in he's gone” said Cleo and tried to pull the water bubble back, with little success, the wind had picked up and made it hard. Bella grabbed the bowl and held it out while Cleo tried to manouver the water surrounding Hector into it. Bella jellified the water and it plopped into the bowl. “Oh he's saved, is he okay?” asked Cleo “look” said Bella and lifted the second bowl, Hector was encased in jelly. Will had followed them “what is that” he wanted to know “it's my goldfish” said Cleo and Bella opened the lid again, Will looked at the jelly and was really confused, a second later it was back to water and hector swimming around. “why did you do that?” he asked “what? Kim put my fish in the canal and we got him out” said Cleo. “but why was he in jelly?” Will wanted to know “well since we can't just touch water I lifted him up” explained Cleo “and then Bella turned the water to jelly so it's easier to get him in the bowl.” 

“So who's up for a swim?” asked Rikki “I can't sorry” said Bella “I have something to do”  
So the others went to the beach and Bella went on a date with Emma. “Cleo did what?” said Emma when Bella was done telling her what had happened to Cleo's goldfish. “yes but we made it. Also we could catch the others on their way to mako.” Emma took Bella's hand and they went to the beach, “hey look” said Bella, “there in the surf” Emma looked and saw a heartshaped jelly “aw that's cute” she said “can I kiss you?” asked Emma, Bella smiled and nodded. 

When they swam they were still holding hands, all the way to mako and to the friendly reef sharks. They decided to take a break at the moonpool and Bella told Emma how she became a mermaid “so there's other moonpools” said Emma “yes” said Bella “and more merpeople” Will turned up aswell “oh am interrupting you?” he said “I can leave you alone” “no it's okay” said Emma “yes you can stay” said Bella “I'm Will by the way” Will introduced himself “I got turned a month ago” he added when he saw Emma's confused look. “I went on a dive pretty late and then the moonpool had glowing bubbles rise above the surface” Will explained. “and the water tentacle knocked me out. Then Cleo, Bella and Rikki found me” 

Lewis came over in the afternoon and Cleo decided to tell him about Hector's detour.  
“So you kept some of the magic water” said Lewis “and did't tell me because I was being unreasonable” “yeah that's about it” said Rikki “I'm sorry” said Cleo “I should be sorry” said Lewis “I shouldn't have kept you from doing your own experiments. Even if it went a bit wrong” “really wrong” Rikki corrected “So what did you find out?” Lewis wanted to know so Cleo said “Well we found out Rikki can't use her power on it in a closed space” “Hey don't single me out”said Rikki “I promise I'll put the rest of the water back” said Cleo “and I will forget about this”said Lewis.


	6. Siren shrieks and how to cure them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will, Cleo, Emma, Rikki, Lewis and Tyler take a closer look at the rock encasing Will's flashlight. They plan a the next sleep over and Will makes a bad experience with the moon.
> 
> [this has some elements of the 14th episode ("mermaid magic") of season three.]

One day after school Emma, Rikki, Bella Cleo and Lewis came to Will's house to look at the rock that encased his flash light.  
“So there's a water tentacle now?” said Emma with a horrified look on her face. “yes” said Rikki “it attacked me.” “and it swallowed my torch” said Will “yes. Also we never looked at the rock properly” said Lewis “This rock could help with finding out what exactly is going on” said Cleo “yes. And some time Tyler could bring proper testing equipment” Will said and Lewis said “exactly then we could run tests and get to the bottom of this”. Lewis' phone rang and it was his parents “I have to go now my mum asked me to look after my younger two siblings.” he said. “but please tell me what you found out later”. Everyone said their goodbyes. Cleo, Emma, Bella and Rikki as well as Will went back to looking at the rock.  
“but until we get that equipment I'll try hammer and chisel“ said Cleo, she hit the chisel but nothing happened “okay this doesn't work” Rikki looked at the rock and said “It's from the moon pool and I wonder what will happen if I heat this up a bit. Don't worry Will I won't burn your desk” and started to heat the rock, “stop” said Cleo after a while as the stone developed a blue shimmer and the bottom started getting red “what is that”  
Emma offered to cool the stone a bit “yeah go ahead”said Rikki so Emma did that. Not much happened “it's too dry” she said. Cleo lifted some water from a glass nearby and formed it into a chisel to drop on the stone. A small blue gem had come loose and Cleo picked it up with tweezers “wow” said Emma “that's the same as the gem I wear” said Bella “where did you find yours?” Rikki asked “In the moon pool in Ireland” Bella replied “the one I became a mermaid in and I've worn it ever since”. “they look exactly the same” said Emma as Cleo held the one from the rock up to Bella's necklace gem “They're just from opposite places in the world” said Cleo. “I could make it into necklace for one of you” said Will “or a bracelet” “yes then we could match with Bella” said Emma “That's nice” said Bella. And in that second her phone rang it was her younger sibling who had just come home from school and didn't want to be home alone. “I gotta go, my little sibling is home” 

later that day Will managed to extract another gem himself by using his ability to dehydrate anything, a small chip came off and a gem fell out. It looked exactly like the one Cleo and Rikki had extracted. Will made a necklace out of his gem and put it in a zip-pocket on his trousers.

Will, Cleo, Bella, Rikki and Emma were at the moon pool “I don't think we should be here” said Cleo “the moon is up in a few hours” “what do we do?” asked Will “We should all go inside and stay away from water to we don't get attacked again” said Bella. Rikki shook her head “No. Why would we have to be scared of water?” she said “it's our element”. “but it attacked you” Emma said “and from what Bella told me it was scary” “we need to find out how we can stop the tentacle” said Will “we need to get rid of it” said Rikki “but I don't think any of us knows how we could do that”said Emma. Offered Cleo “Or we could ask Tyler”Will suggested “Lewis has known us longer”said Emma “Or we could ask them both” said Cleo “yes we could” said Bella “and Tyler is studying geology and they can cover more ground” said Will. 

Will went to see Tyler and said “about the full moon, we're staying at Bella's house and though we'd ask you to be there for safety and Cleo asked Lewis.” “okay” said Tyler “I get it. You want to make sure the tentacle stays away” Will was relieved “so what time do we meet at Bella's?” asked Tyler “we haven't decided yet but I'll write into the sleepover group chat” replied Will and promptly did. 

A while later they agreed on a time and Bella told them the address. Tyler and Will were there on time and met Cleo “where's Rikki” asked Emma who had just stepped out her door “I don't know” said Cleo “I can text her” “no need to” said Rikki as she arrived 

Bella's family was home but didn't seem phased by the full moon sleepover “Hi, everyone” said Bella's mum “ you can call me Louise” the group introduced themselves and Louise said “I am so happy you have found new friends here Bella” she smiled and added “now I'll get out of your way, just make sure to keep away from the moon, Bella had such a hard time with sleepwalking at full moons and the nightmares, until she started wearing that blue gem.” “oh mum don't embarrass me” said Bella “sorry dear” her mum said and went upstairs to her bedroom “call me if you need me” she said. “thanks mum. Good night” said Bella “wait you told your mum?”said Rikki “yes my parents know. They're safe” said Bella “none of us told our parents” said Cleo “well my mum knows” said Emma “and I told Elliot. He promised not to say anything and knowing him my secret is safe”. 

They went to Bella's room upstairs, she had prepared it for the sleepover and put down mattresses and pillows. It al went nice until Will went to pee and the bathroom curtains weren't blackout ones and then he saw the moon, large and round peeking through the blinds. “ah fuck”thought Will and went back to the others “I saw the moon.” he croaked “and I don't feel very well” Tyler hugged him and Emma said “It happened to all of us, now just stay here and nothing will happen.” Rikki pulled a face and said “Will, we told you not to look at the moon, even Bella's mum did!” Will opened his mouth to argue but his voice was an ear piercing shriek that made everyone cover their ears in pain so he grabbed a pencil and a scrap of paper and wrote “sorry, I don't know what's happened to me” he looked panicked so Cleo told him “I once got moonstruck and every time I sang people loved it but really I am a terrible singer” 

“Bella's mum said something about the blue gem necklace, maybe that could help” said Emma “yeah I had no full moon nightmares since wearing it all the time.“I have a gem from the rock with me” wrote Will “I extracted it” he scribbled under it and pulled the necklace out of his pocket, Tyler helped him put it on and then said “cover your ears” so Will tried again, it came out as less painful to hear but it wasn't possible to tell what will said. So he grabbed the pencil and Bella handed him a notepad “I'm scared. This is awful. And it hurts” Will wrote “Okay when I overheated you took me to the moon pool, maybe that'll help Will”said Rikki “but we can't risk seeing the moon” said Cleo “okay. So we go to Mako by boat” said Lewis “and hike up to the cave” he didn't seem terribly thrilled “the entrance is uncomfortable” said Emma when Tyler asked why Lewis didn't seem happy about it “ah. So anything else?” Tyler asked “I have a flash light that's waterproof” 

The group took Tyler's boat and they went to Mako, “now we go down there” said Cleo “it's like a slide” said Emma optimistically. And down they went. 

Will went into the moon pool and put his head under the surface, Emma, Cleo, Bella and Rikki went in too and when Will said something under water it was clear as it usually would be in air. “So what do we do now” he asked and upon realizing it he added “oh cool I can talk normally underwater”. The moon was still peeking in but the water was normal. They resurfaced and will said “oh that was scary” and it sounded normal “Okay but what the hell was that?” asked Rikki. Tyler went into the pool and pulled Will into a hug “I'm glad you got your voice back”. “now you're soaked” said Will Tyler smiled and said “I don't care I can wash the saltwater out.” “The water feels warmer than usual” said Emma “yes. And the air feels sticky and hot” said Cleo “I could install a thermometer” offered Lewis “and I could set it up in a way that creates a graph.” said Tyler and got out of the pool. “We can swim back” said Bella “if you feel up to it Will”. “I don't feel like hiking all the way down again so sure”. 

The merpeople swam back to the closest spot to Bella's house where they could get out of the water. Rikki steam dried them carefully and they snuck back in to get some more sleep. Luckily no one noticed and when they woke up the previous night felt like a bad dream.


	7. A rocky day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cleo took the rock from mako home to keep it safe from Sophie's prying eyes and it doesn't go as planned. Rikki is pissed off when she hears that Cleo showed the rock to someone. The girls have an argument and Rikki runs off.
> 
> This chapter and the following two have bits of season three episode 17 “magnetic attraction” and season three ep18 "into the light". It was supposed be only one chapter but got really long.

It was lunch at school and the “merpeople and friends” group was sitting together “So who can take the moon pool rock home?” asked Will “because Sophie has asked about it and I didn't want to tell her anything”. “you could give it to Tyler” said Lewis “he's a geologist.” “or one of us mermaids takes it home.” suggested Cleo “okay. That sounds good, it's not like we can't still find out what's up.” So it was decided. 

Cleo was doing some writing for school and had the Mako rock on her desk, she heard a knock “come in” Cleo said. It was Sam, her dad's girlfriend “dinner's in ten minutes, come help set the table” she said “okay, I'll come down” Cleo said. Then the metal tongs Sam was holding flew to the rock and stuck “wow that's some serious magnetism” she said “it's for school . I need to write about this rock” Cleo lied in hopes to keep Sam from asking more “a school project on rocks?” asked Sam “uhm yeah. I'll come down as I said, I'll just finish the bit I was writing.” said Cleo. Sam pulled the tongs from the rock and left Cleo's room. 

“also my assistant is coming to dinner today” said Sam. Kim rolled her eyes and said “whatever”. Cleo was really surprised when she saw Tyler walk through the door “oh Hi Tyler” she said “you guys know each other?” asked Sam “yeah Cleo's in the same year as my boyfriend” said Tyler.

Cleo decided to show Tyler the rock after dinner and told him about the magnetism “wow that is cool” he said “I could bring a magnetometer and see if it's the same at Mako” Cleo replied “sounds good, I just need to convince Rikki and the others that it's okay. Rikki doesn't like having other people know about us or go around Mako” . “I get it” said Tyler “it's not nice invading someone's space they feel safe at”. Tyler went home and Cleo planned to discuss it with the others the following day.

As Cleo, Rikki, Emma and Bella walked to their lockers Cleo decided to tell them what happened the evening before.  
“So it turns out my dad's girlfriend knows Tyler because she's the professor of one of the geology courses and he's her assistant at work and he offered to help” said Cleo “No way! it was annoying enough to have Lewis prod around the moon pool.” Rikki objected “and remember the last time a scientist came to Mako? It was that scary marine biology doctor and she wanted to dissect us!” Emma said “Don't worry. I showed him the rock and he offered his help again” said Cleo “And he's trustworthy!” said Will “he's my boyfriend. I've known him for years.” Rikki wasn't in any way satisfied with that answer and said “well he is nice but that doesn't mean he isn't a liability. One more person who could accidentally expose us.” “he wouldn't” Will argued “ but he might. If for instance he leaves data tracing back to us somewhere at uni” Rikki was fuming and just walked away.   
“I knew Rikki could be a bit stubborn but not so..” Will started “...defensive?” Emma suggested Will agreed “ yeah” “she just needs some time” said Cleo.  
After school Cleo and Will met up with Tyler and he tested a piece of the rock and compared the chemical make up to other kinds of stone. And they found out some more interesting things. 

Rikki had gone to Mako and experimented with energizing the rocks, they glowed a bit and made a sound but not much else happened, so she tried again, and with more energy. Smiling to herself Rikki turned to a different spot and tried again, it sung with energy.   
A moment later Cleo and Will came to the moon pool with Bella and Emma close behind “Tyler did some tests and you'll never believe this: it turns out this cave and Mako is made up from some kind of moon rock”Cleo explained excitedly “which explains so much: the full moon, how it affects us and the tentacle, and how we got turned in the first place” Will added. “wait hold up” said Bella “The moon pool follows the cycle of the moon because they're the same” Cleo elaborated. Rikki was not thrilled about the new information “I think it's dangerous to involve more people” she said “we're already five merpeople and Lewis makes six and with Tyler it's seven! sorry Will I know he's your boyfriend but can he not get involved in poking around here?” “But he was helping us!” Will said “and if you're so pissed off then fine. The ocean's big enough to avoid you” said Rikki. “Rikki, how could you say that?”Emma said “I just want to protect Mako!” Rikki retorted. “from who?” Cleo asked “from you!” said Rikki angrily, Will left. “what is up with you?”asked Cleo “because you've changed. You're not your normal self”. She left the moon pool and Emma and Bella followed. 

Rikki was still at Mako pushing energy against the rock wall and where ever she pointed the energy went. She smiled and stepped back to look at the wall with a triumphant expression.  
“she's in a weird head space” said Bella later when she was sitting on Will's veranda/dock with Cleo, Will and Emma. “she seems to care more about Mako than about us” said Cleo in a defeated tone. “I'm sure she'll be back by tonight” said Emma “it's not like it's the first time she wanted a break from us” “I think it's not just that” said Bella “she's keeping something from us” “I'm worried” said Cleo “Okay. So one full moon when Rikki was gone for hours and later said I saved her from the water tentacle” Will admitted “I didn't save her, she saved me. And she seemed to be able to talk to the tentacle, it listened to her” he said.


	8. Where the helly is Rikki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the next chunk in the mako-rock saga. Emma, Cleo, Bella, Will and Lewis are looking for Rikki and get really worried when she isn't even on Mako island. When she does re-appear she is still angry and sees someone snooping around on Mako. There's more arguing and Zane, Rikki's toxic ex appears and pisses her off even more. Tyler has an idea who might be the guy on Mako.

No hone had seen Rikki when Bella, Cleo, Emma, Will and Lewis went to school the next day. “I've even looked in the gym hall “ said Cleo “and she wasn't in the art room either” said Emma “Why would Rikki miss an entire day? The teachers seemed to think she's working on a project” said Bella. Will joined them at the lockers and Cleo said “I tried calling her but she didn't pick up” Lewis said “well you're not going to like this but there's a place you haven't looked”. Cleo, Emma and Rikki swam to the moon pool in search of Rikki and she wasn't there. “I really don't know where else she could possibly be” said Cleo “Why is she avoiding us” asked Bella “I don't know either” said Emma and so they left. Rikki had been hiding behind a rock and when she heard the others leaving she came back out.  
Bella and Cleo went to see Will again, Emma didn't want to come with them.  
“this makes no damn sense” said Cleo “she's avoiding us completely. We really need to talk to her” Bella was sceptical, she said “I don't think that's such a good idea, we might just end up pushing her away even more” “but we can't just do nothing!”said Cleo “maybe we need to give her time to figure out what was happening” said Will who just came out of his boat shed after putting his school things inside “I think she'll say something eventually” he continued “so you think we should let her isolate herself?” said Cleo “I agree with Will” said Bella “we should just continue as normal as we can and hope Rikki will feel safe to talk to us sooner rather than later. And she wasn't the only one who was there at the full moon” Will shook his head “but she asked me not to say anything, and I've already broken that promise”. 

When Rikki finally came back she was fuming “I told you it was a bad idea telling other people about Mako!” she said as they were walking in the dunes“there's some guy snooping around and he's testing rocks. He's a national parks guy.” “Sam works for the national parks organisation” said Cleo “great so she blabbed” said Rikki angrily “I don't think it was her” said Cleo “she just saw the rock once and she wouldn't tell” “and neither would Tyler for that matter” said Will. “But he still knows about us and Mako and I don't know, maybe he told someone” said Rikki “He would never do that!” said Will “he did do an internship with the national parks and works part time for them. But he wouldn't betray me or us”.  
“well maybe it's one of his colleagues who heard something.”said Emma “See? Telling more people is only causing problems!” said Rikki “coming from you. They're upset with you. You didn't want to tell the others what happened at the full moon” said Will “so I did” “you promised not to tell them” Rikki said “I had to, we were worried” retorted Will. “why would keep something like that from us?” Emma wanted to know “If I had told you, you would have blabbed to someone and there goes the secret!”Rikki said angrily “sooner or later who ever the fuck that is will find something strange, and we have to protect Mako. If you're not going to do anything well I don't know” she said and walked away towards the asphalt path that lead back to the city. 

Meanwhile Cleo, Emma, Bella and Will were walking from the beach to a quiet spot near Tyler's house, he had joined them and caught up with what had been happening.  
“how did we get to this point?” asked Cleo “we use to be friends.” “she is really fixated” said Bella “yup. And pissed off” said Emma “okay what if Rikki is right, what if there really is someone out there?” said Will “because he will find a matching rock sample”. “Well it's possible, maybe” sad Cleo “It is likely he will and what then?” said Will “he could be out there now” said Emma. “I doubt it” said Cleo “well there's one way to find that out” said Bella “okay then, if I find out what name tag he wears I could call”offered Tyler “because it's me who got us into this in the first place. I tested the small sample with the instruments at the national parks lab.” “we don't know that” said Cleo “but we should look anyways” “Oh I have an idea who it might be” said Tyler “there was this guy named Ryan, who seemed really nosy. He wanted to know what I was doing.” “What did you tell him” asked Will “nothing of course!” Tyler assured them “because I won't risk exposing you.”  
“So can you find out if it really is him?” asked Cleo “I wouldn't normally have his number but we recently had to do a group project at uni and while I can't stand him we had to stay in contact”said Tyler “I'm calling him now” he put his phone on speaker and called Ryan, it beeped and the voice mail came on immediately “this is Ryan's voice mail. Leave a call after the beep”. Tyler ended the call “so he isn't answering” said Will “there is no cell reception on Mako”said Emma “maybe he is there”. 

When Rikki walked away from the others she ran into her awful ex Zane “hey where have you been?” he asked “none of your business” she said without much motivation to look at him “oh but it's important enough to tell Will” Zane said “is he your new boyfriend?” Rikki was already angry and said “ Well first of all fuck you. And second as I mentioned it's none of your damn business who I am friends with!” she took a breath and resumed “anyways there is a reason we broke up. I am not even interested in guys. Let alone you”. And without leaving Zane any time to reply she walked away as quickly as she could without running.


	9. Unwanted visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rikki goes to mako to make sure that Ryan leaves and Will goes after her to get her to come back. Tyler knows Ryan and helps the others confirm he's on mako. Emma, Bella and Cleo want to make peace with Rikki so they swim to mako to talk to her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah i changed my mind with posting multiple chapters in a day. whatever. ryan gets what he deserves.  
> leave me a comment if you liked reading.

Rikki swam to mako as soon as she could get back to the beach, she had to do something to scare that guy away from the island and the moon pool. Will volunteered/decided to go after her since everyone else didn't want to risk pissing her off even more. It wasn't worth risking their relationship. Will swam to mako, banished the water off his body and got up. Finding Rikki wasn't hard, she had just boiled the backpack and notebook that the national park guy had left out of sight. “stop” Will urged Rikki “I came here because I believe you.” Rikki didn't say anythingy she proceeded to heat the magnetometer that Ryan had brought and melted the plastic case out of shape. When Ryan went back to pick the magnetometer up he dropped it because it was still hot, he looked up in confusion, all he saw was some rustling leaves where Rikki and Will had been hiding, so Ryan went up to the place where the foliage had moved. Will and Rikki ran and Ryan went after them. They were continuously a bit ahead and out of sight, hiding behind a tree for a moment until Ryan had walked past “quick”said Rikki and turned in another direction. Ryan stood around in one spot for a while. The two mers had reached the shallow stream that ran across mako and as any attempt at crossing would make them grow tails they turned away bolted in another direction, back to the treeline and down to the moon pool. Cave, sadly Ryan had followed them without seeing and also went into the cave. Ending up at the moon pool. Rikki and Will were in the water and periodically ducked into the underwater entrance to avoid being seen. From the safety of the water Rikki began zapping Ryan but Will stopped and luckily three zaps were sufficient to scare Ryan away “are you okay?” asked Will “it's okay. It will be okay”.

Cleo and Bella were going to see Sam and Cleo said “I was wondering if Ryan has been working around Mako island recently” Sam looked up from her laptop and said “no he's working in the lab this week. But if you want to call him I have his number” in that moment Kim interrupted “well I told him you liked hanging around at mako when he asked” Cleo and Bella looked at each other in shock “let's go” decided Cleo. 

Bella and Cleo went to get Emma and were joined by Tyler when he heard what was going on and swam to the moon pool where Will and Rikki had gotten out of the water after Ryan had left. They came out the water and Cleo said “we need to apologize.” “you were right about protecting Mako from Ryan” said Emma “I also need to apologize” said Tyler “I shouldn't have done tests at the national park lab” “We should have listened to you” said Bella “No. you shouldn't apologize, I am sorry I avoided you and I should have told you what happened at the full moon” “You can talk to us” said Cleo “we're there for you” said Emma. “seriously, talk to us. About anything” Bella emphasized.“ “well I know but I can't explain why I didn't tell you. I don't get it”Rikki admitted “but Will stopped me” “before you set him on fire” said Will.

“we're back together now” said Cleo “it'll be okay” said Emma “but it won't. What do we do about Ryan now?” Tyler grinned “I have an idea.” 

Back at Cleo's house Ryan was in the kitchen showing Sam what had happened to the magnetometer “look. It melted” he said “oh hey Cleo, you're on Mako island a lot” “ah I used to be but it is boring after some time”said Cleo bored and continued to put away clean dishes “The problem is you being at Mako.” said Sam “yeah sorry but” Ryan started “no buts. Your work is in the lab. Not on some off shore island”Sam cut him off “But I am onto something. If you could just take a look...”Ryan tried again “No you stick to the lab work and don't go to Mako island again” Sam retorted “if you want to keep your job that is.”she walked over to the fridge and put something away “anyways. See you tomorrow in the lab”. Ryan left but not before unnecessarily hitting on Cleo “maybe, I am so busy” she said to his proposal of seeing each other again “what is wrong with you?” said Kim who had been sitting in the living room the entire time “you are really rejecting him. Goodness you really have no taste”. Cleo rolled her eyes and walked away frustrated.   
In the evening Cleo went to Will's house to tell the others what had happened earlier “so we won't see him again” Cleo concluded “hopefully” said Rikki “We can't let anyone near the moon pool” said Bella “it's dangerous.” Emma added “Whatever is there won't harm us.” said Rikki “I made a connection with the tentacle. It was listening to me but also felt like it wanted to tell me something.” “but what”asked Emma “I don't know what. But we shouldn't be fighting it” said Rikki “So it turns out we don't know anything about the tentacle” said Bella “yes.” Cleo replied. “Together we can figure it out” said Cleo “yes. Together” agreed Rikki the others nodded “yup.” Said Will


	10. Coral Bloom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rikki is back, everyone's okay again and Will makes some moon pool crystal necklaces.   
> They stay at Bella's house and it's overall really chill, she asks where the lockets came from and her dad makes an appearance.

Will was at home, making a moon pool gem into a necklace, he gently polished the stone a bit and put it into a pair of clamps with silicone pads in them that would not scratch the surface. He wrapped some cord around the top and added a drop of glue before carefully tugging on the loop of cord he had made earlier to straighten it. When that was done Will cut another length of cord and threaded it through the loop, he tied the ends to the other side of the cord to make it adjustable and unclamped the gem. Will smiled to himself and proceeded to pack his school bag.

At school he told the others about the necklace he had made from the gem that Rikki and Cleo had extracted. “cool” said Cleo “yeah I know.” said Bella “so who wants to wear it?” Will asked “I still have the original rock” said Cleo “we could extract some more so we can all match” said Will and pulled his necklace above the neckline of his t-shirt “look. I got inspired by Bella's necklace” he said “neat.” said Bella “I think Rikki should have it” said Emma “she had the idea to heat the stone and I just picked the gem out with tweezers” said Cleo “oh thanks” said Rikki and Will gave her the necklace, Rikki put it on with her medallion “they look nice together” said Emma. 

“where did you get the lockets” asked Bella one day when she was in the moon pool with Emma, Cleo and Rikki, Will had joined them but was sitting on the edge of the pool. “I found one in the moon pool” said Emma “and it turns out this elderly Lady Ms Chatham and her friends were mermaids in the sixties and wore them to symbolise their friendship. But they stopped being friends after a really bad fight and gave up their powers, one of them threw her medallion into the moon pool.” said Cleo “and Ms Chatham was still wearing hers, her other friend died a few years ago but we got her medallion from a pawn store” “oh that's sad. That they stopped being friends” said Bella “yes. Ms Chatham always told us to stay together. She gave us her medallion, because to her they belonged together” said Rikki  
“I really hope we can stay together” said Bella “even though we graduate soon” “oh don't start talking about graduation” said Cleo “I am so stressed with stuffing information in my brain that I'll only need for one test that one time.”said Rikki “Why don't we go swim a bit more” said Will “Oh and the coral bloom is tonight” said Emma “I almost forgot about that” said Rikki “I've only ever seen that once” said Will “but that was years ago and I was really tired because I was a kid and it was past bedtime for me.” Cleo said “we always look at the coral bloom.” “and it's basically tradition for us” said Rikki “also I read that there's humpback whales visiting this time of year”said Will “that is so cool. We should totally swim out to go whale watching”said Rikki “isn't that a bit dangerous”said Emma “they're so big and could easily hurt us on accident” “well I'm sure it'll be okay when we keep a bit of a distance” said Cleo “good” said Bella “let's go see the coral bloom”

The following day everyone met to study for the first exam of the finals, science and Will, Bella, Rikki, Emma and Cleo were sitting together in Bella's room with Lewis who had offered his help as he was pretty confident in his knowledge. “okay. Ms Taylor said there will be something about radiation” said Cleo and turned her notes to the ones she needed “I always forget which order the particles are in. you know the severity thing” said Rikki. Emma said “look here” she said, she had colour coded her notes and underlined and circled important things“how am I supposed to focus on the information?” asked Rikki “this is more colourful than those sparkly rainbow unicorns you used to collect” Emma was about to explain how her system of colour-coded highlighters and post it's worked when Cleo looked at her watch and said “oh we've been at this for three hours” then Rikki said “I need a break”. “My dad made some ice cream yesterday and I think there's enough left.” said Bella, “we could go downstairs and ask.”

Bella's dad was at the kitchen table writing something and looked up when he noticed his daughter and her friends enter the room. “So how's your studying going?” Bella's dad asked “okay. We're getting there” said Emma optimistically “do you want some ice cream?”he asked “it's vegan, don't worry.” he added when Cleo asked about lactose “I haven't introduced myself I'm Steve” said Bella's dad. “the ice cream is the bottom drawer of the freezer” Steve added “if the container is too wet there's oven mitts”.”thanks dad” said Bella “so he knows too?” asked Rikki when they were eating ice cream in Bella's room “yeah. I was nine when I got my tail and not telling them would have been super difficult, especially when we lived in rainy places.”Bella explained “and they never dragged me to a doctor because of it or anything. Well it helps that mum is one.”   
“your mum's a doctor?” Emma said in surprise Bella nodded as she took another spoonful of ice cream. “The next full moon is Wednesday.”said Will suddenly “and today is Monday” said Lewis “oh shit. And the moon is supposed to rise by three in the afternoon”Cleo said “the exam is at two” said Rikki “ we could skip it” she suggested “no way. We didn't just study for weeks just to skip a final exam!” said Emma indignantly “we can't fail an exam because of a full moon!”   
“calm down Emma” said Bella “we will go and take the exam and we'll be okay”


	11. Gems of moonlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Will and Tyler, Emma, Rikki and Bella and Cleo get tired of studying for their science final and make a discovery about the crystals from the moon pool. it doesn't exactly go as planned. 
> 
> (this has some bits from an episode in s3 and I don't remember which one it was)

Tuesday afternoon Will and Tyler, Emma, Rikki and Bella were studying at Cleo's house. Lewis wanted to come but in the end he had work that was due really soon. Cleo's dad was really exited about a football game and was in the living room watching it with Sam and Kim  
“I need a break. My brain feels overstuffed” said Rikki it had gotten dark outside while they were studying. She turned to Cleo's mp3 player that was plugged into a small speaker and pressed play it was once of Bella's songs that she had recorded a while back. “no I don't want to listen to my own voice.” said Bella, she put her notes aside and got up to pull the remote out of Rikki's hand. What neither really noticed was that Bella's necklace gem was being pulled towards Rikki's own Mako gem. “Wait Rikki” said Cleo “okay I'll put different music on” said Rikki “no not that your gem necklaces”said Cleo “take them off and put the crystals close together” she instructed. Bella and Rikki did, the two crystals moved toward each other. “wow” said Emma “see. It's magnetic” said Cleo “we've seen some really strange things but this” Emma started to say “is really cool” Bella finished her sentence. “I wonder what happens if we get the crystals to touch” Cleo said “I don't think we should do that” said Emma “I agree with Emma” said Will “because we don't know what we're playing with” 

“there is only one way to find that out” said Cleo. Emma was vehemently against it but Rikki and Bella wanted to try, Tyler was cautious. Cleo wanted to see what happened so she said “Okay do it.” When Bella and Rikki put their gems down on a flat surface Tyler voiced his concern “this could be dangerous” but the others ignored that. When the crystals touched they emitted an intense blue light. Downstairs the TV shut off and so did all the lights in the house. Bella, Cleo, Emma, Will and Rikki seemed to be entranced and stared at the glowing crystals. Tyler tapped Will's shoulder but nothing happened. Then Cleo's dad came in just as the crystals were separated again and everyone sat down to pretend nothing had happened “what is going on?” Don demanded to know “uh nothing” said Will. Cleo shrugged as if she didn't know what her dad was talking about.

“I really don't know what happened” said Cleo as they followed her dad down the stairs. “what was that blue light?” he asked “I used my mobile as a torch”Cleo said “but that is too much light to come from one phone.”said Don slightly irritated “We all used out phones as flash lights” said Emma 

“That light is like “ Emma started to say “ exactly like the moonlight when it affects us”Cleo said. “but how does moonlight get into a crystal?” asked Emma “ I don't know but we need to be careful with them from now on” said Will “They're really powerful” said Emma “maybe I should keep the second necklace safe. I have mine in a safe place”said will “yes that would be better” said Rikki and handed Will the necklace. “there must be more of these” said Cleo. Before everyone else went home

The next day the girls went back to Mako to investigate “So here was Will's torch” said Rikki and pointed at an area of cave wall where the small waterfall gathered in a shallow basin. “and it's also where the other two crystals are from” said Cleo. “there must be way more”. “there is a lot of rock here” said Bella “how are we going to find a tiny crystal in here?”asked Emma.

In the meantime Will was at home having put Rikki's crystal necklace in a box for safekeeping, he went to sit outside and tidied some things. “Hi Will” said Sophie “so what's with seeing those girls all the time? You don't even seem to lift anymore” she pointed at the spot where will had previously kept some dumbbells. “the weightlifting is over” said Will “I heard you gave Rikki a crystal” said Sophie “she's a friend.” said Will “okay. I don't believe you but whatever. I have to go now” Sophie replied.

The girls were on Mako trying to find crystals. Cleo borrowed Bella's necklace. It nearly stuck to the wall. Rikki heated the area and there was another two crystals. “you did it!” said Cleo and handed Bella her necklace back. “we need to tell Will” said Emma and pocketed one of the crystals  
When they showed Will one of the crystal he said “it's identical to the others.” “can you make me a necklace with it?” asked Cleo “yeah sure” said Will “I have another crystal” said Emma and pulled it from her pocket “I can make my own necklace but I want to match” she said. Will gave her some cord and they turned the crystals into necklaces. “now we all match” said Cleo when Will and Emma were done “nice” said Will and put on his own “I found another crystal in the rock around my torch” he explained. “how did you do it?” Cleo asked “because the first time it didn't work before Rikki heated the rock” “I can dehydrate things. Kinda. I'm not really sure” Will replied “the rock cracked and the crystal appeared.”


	12. So what does the water tentacle want?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next full moon is approaching and so is the science final. The five merpeople try to find out what the water tentacle wants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter has bits of season 3 and I changed a few more things to not copy canon 1:1. Also sorry for having Lewis kinda absent, despite him being there in my story. (he is really busy).
> 
> feel free to tell me of you find any strange grammatical errors or typos. and leave a comment if you like.

Cleo woke up at her desk and when she looked at her phone the full moon alert was the first thing she saw after the time. A bit sleepy she got up, had breakfast and went to brush her teeth while going over her notes again. Suddenly her phone rang, it was Bella who went for a swim with Rikki and Cleo said “you should not be swimming you're supposed to be studying and I don't care if it's relaxing. That's no use in an exam when you don't what to write.” slightly frustrated Cleo ended the call and went back to her notes. After a while Cleo went for a walk along the beach promenade, with her notes in hand. “hey!” Rikki called Cleo didn't react “hey. earth to Cleo!” said Rikki a bit louder “oh Hi” said Cleo, without looking up from her notes “what are you doing? You're like Emma.”said Rikki. “I am studying for the science final! And I am absolutely sure they'll ask about DNA coding of amino acids and how transmitters work.” “ah yes sure” said Rikki despite not really getting what Cleo was talking about “I uh still have time to study. The exam isn't until 2” Rikki said “but it's today!” Cleo said. A bit further along the way they were joined by Bella and Emma. “Are you ready for the final revision?” asked Emma “no and I don't think we should be taking this exam. It's a full moon!” said Rikki “Did you even study at all?” asked Emma “because I'm beginning to doubt you even took any notes.” Rikki didn't elaborate. They met up with Will at his house and Rikki was really not motivated “ugh molecular bla bla history is so boring. I'm way more interested in the history of Mako” she said. “or the history of merpeople.” “ yeah I get it. Where did they come from anyway” said Bella “that would really be interesting said Will” “stop encouraging Rikki” said Emma. “we have a science exam in a few hours. So are going to get started today?” Cleo said “because I don't want to fail.” Rikki wasn't having it “but when are we ever going to need this stuff after we're done?” she asked “I have had enough okay.” said Emma “I have today planned today to the minute.” Really?” said Bella “yes. And we are wasting time.” said Emma 

“so the moon rises at 3:30 this afternoon.” said Rikki “That's five minutes before the end of the exam, which means we need to leave five minutes early okay.” “wait five minutes?” said Emma “we have five minutes less than everyone else?” she was really not okay with that idea. “what's the big deal” said Rikki “it's just five minutes” and grabbed Emma's hand, which yanked Bella around. 

Cleo and Emma were really nervous and as the time passed Cleo was so tense she broke her pencil. Ms Taylor gave her a new one and went on along the tables. The time went on and the moon rose, at a quarter to three the water dispenser in the classroom sounded like it released a large bubble. Which made Cleo, Rikki, Bella and Emma nervous. By the time it was three thirty the tank of the water dispenser bubbled again and the sprinklers outside went on. Everyone looked around in confusion and Ms Taylor just told the students to keep going and left the room. The students went to the windows to look, the water dispenser's tank inflated and the tap opened, some water dripped out formed a slim snake of water that went between the chairs straight to the merpeople in the room and the tank atop the water dispenser inflated some more. Emma, Bella, Cleo and Rikki stood on their chairs to avoid the water. Then the water dispenser's tank couldn't take the expanding anymore and burst. Will mentally shoved the water away so none of the merpeople would be splashed. Ms Taylor returned and announced that all students should leave through the front. “let's g out the back” said Bella and the other merpeople followed her “you said three thirty, that's the time the moon rises” said Cleo to Rikki “yes.”. 

As they left the building Rikki said “I told you we should have skipped the exam.” and Bella replied “I think you're right.”. “so suppose that water tentacle you told me about wants to tell us something, how are supposed to listen to it?” asked Emma “well it's simple” said Rikki “we let it take us” “what?” said Cleo “it knocked me out!” Will protested “oh come on” said Rikki. “Trust it, trust me. We need to face it to find out” “okay” said Cleo. “fine we'll do it” said Will.

So the five merpeople swam to Mako and got to the moon pool. The waterfall was buzzing “it's going to get really tricky when the moon is there” said Rikki “so what do we do” asked Emma “I don't know” Rikki admitted. They got out of the water and the small waterfall now engulfed the entire wall “be careful” said Rikki when Cleo went to touch the wall. “I'm really nervous” said Cleo. The moon rose to shine through the cone of the cave and the wall started spitting bolts of energized water into the bubbling moon pool Cleo got startled. Then the water stopped and the tentacle rose from the moon pool towards the five people. “so what do we do?”asked Bella Rikki shrugged and said “hello?” to the tentacle “stay here.” Rikki said and then the shallow basin's water evaporated, there were five small indents and the five crystals lit up. “I think we're supposed to put them in there” said Bella so they did and the crystals glowed as they had in Cleo's room. The tentacle shoved the five merpeople into the moon pool and the light from the necklace gems got more intense. Then glowing bubbles rose from the moon pool and got a blue hue to them from the gems' light. It lasted until the moon passed and Rikki said “well that was anticlimactic” “yeah. And we still don't know what the tentacle is for” said Cleo “I don't really care as long as it leaves us alone” said Bella “atleast it's not something scary.” said Will “I'm tired we need to go back” said Emma “let's meet up tomorrow for a swim” said Will “but now I really need some sleep.”  
When Will arrived home he texted Tyler “so we confronted the tentacle and found nothing. Gotta sleep now”. He switched the phone off and went to sleep.

The science exam was re-scheduled to the following week and even Rikki seemed prepared for it.  
“I actually feel good about this exam” said Cleo when they left school after the exam “I'm just glad it's over” said Rikki “yeah but I'm still wondering what was up with the water tentacle” said Will “we still don't know what exactly it wants.” Emma shrugged and said “I don't know.” “we should go back next full moon” suggested Bella “atleast the tentacle won't hurt us” said Rikki.


	13. Cis people in my friendgroup? Less likely than you think. or "one token trans person is unrealistic."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> another full moon sleepover comes and goes and the end of year party is approaching.

Will met up with Tyler and told him about what happened during the exam and then later in the moon pool “So we still don't know why the tentacle is there or what it wants” explained Will “it just shoved us into the moon pool and nothing special happened” Tyler was listening and after getting caught up on the whole water tentacle thing he said “Okay. I can't really think of a reason why the tentacle may exist in the first place but you'll be okay.” “I just hope it will leave us alone” said Will. “Anyways I hope I don't get deadnamed at graduation. That would be so embarrassing.” “you won't be, because you emailed the school and told them not to deadname you, so they won't start now” Tyler assured him “thanks. I tend to be worried about that when I get anxious.”said Will. They hugged and ended up cuddling for a while. “let's go for a swim” suggested Tyler “yes.”said Will and smiled “Also I found my fancy monofin I can't really use anymore for obvious reasons“  
Tyler and Will went to an empty spot of beach they had found a while back and went in the water there, “I want to take a look at the moon pool” said Tyler when he went up to the surface for air and Will surfaced “yeah. Want a piggyback for a bit?” he asked “yes” said Tyler and went to hold on to his boyfriend. As they reached the reef around Mako Will and Tyler came up for air again and then went to dive into the moon pool. “it's so nice here” said Tyler as he went to take the monofin off and sat on the edge of the moon pool. “yeah. And even better with you here”. Tyler had packet a small picnic in a watertight diving backpack so Will got out of the moon pool, banishing the water off himself and sitting down across Tyler. 

Cleo, Emma, Bella and Rikki were hanging out in Rikki's backyard. “So what do you want to do after graduation?” Emma asked “Well I was thinking about taking a gap year at the marine animal rehab station.” replied Cleo “what?” Bella said in a worried tone “that means water.” “yes and I volunteered there in the holidays last year.” said Cleo confidently “I can manage.” “okay. I'm just saying” said Bella “here we go again” said Rikki and rolled her eyes “Cleo why would you spend a whole year at a job at which you could get exposed every single day?” she asked “because I care about the animals!”Cleo explained “and being a mermaid helps.” “okay. Calm down.” said Emma “I plan to apply to uni, maybe for sports-nutrition or something like that” “I like archaeology and the idea of looking for sunken ships and old cities that the ocean swallowed is so cool” said Rikki “that sounds cool but didn't you just criticize Cleo for picking a job with water?” said Bella “yeah I know.” Rikki admitted “but being splashed on land is different from going on dives without needing all the scuba gear” she explained. “sounds good” said Bella. “you all have plans and I am just happy that I'm done with school” said “it's okay Bella” said Emma “You don't have to have everything figured out”said Rikki. Cleo's phone rang, she answered the call and after hanging up she said “I got to go, Lewis called and asked if I could proof read his paper.” 

One afternoon after school everyone was at Tyler's house, he lived with his parents and younger sibling. The full moon was close again and so it was sleepover time and four merpeople as well as two regular humans squeezed together in Tyler's room on a bunch of mattresses, sitting together in their comfy clothes. “so another week of school and we're done” said Cleo “I'm happy about it but also a bit sad” said Bella “yeah. I hope we can all stay in touch. Even if we're not at the same place” said Emma “that's making me sad. Can we change the topic?” asked Rikki “yeah. We haven't gotten to the bottom of the tentacle thing.” said Will “I don't think we have to honestly.” said Cleo.  
The six friends ended up in a cuddle pile watching a film and weren't thinking about the future or seemingly sentient water. “I just hope my diploma will say my actual name” said Will after the film was over and all the lights dimmed, “I feel you” Cleo said “I did the research and it's pretty straightforward. Fill out a form and wait a while then you can pick up your new ID and so on in about a month or so”. Will smiled and said “thanks. So are you trans too? If you're okay with answering that. ” “I'm a demi-woman” said Cleo “and I updated my legal name years ago. Oh and if you're worried about getting my pronouns right, they're she/her”. “cool.” said Will “so I'm not the token trans person.” “Why are you saying that, we're friends with you because we like you” said Bella “also I'm kinda gendermeh.”said Rikki “like whatever I have more important things than my gender to worry about. My pronouns are still the same though”. “ah neat” said Will “so which film is next? Or do we just sit around” asked Tyler “also babe I'm not cis either” “I know” said Will “but outing other people is not okay.” “yup” said Tyler. “you're so in love it's cheesy” said Rikki “  
“Before we switch the light off I have to announce a thing” said Lewis “my uni prep course starts early and overlaps with the last weeks of school” “what?” sad Cleo “yes. I forgot to tell you. I'm sorry” “it's okay. I'm tired. Good night”  
-  
One day after school the conversation went to the end-of-year party “so are we going to the party?”asked Rikki “I am, it's the last time we'll see everyone”said Cleo “formal dances are only mildly interesting in those cheesy american teen-romance highschool movies.”said Rikki “exactly, which is what I told the student council” said Bella “and we decided on a beach party”said Emma “great.” said Cleo “I always wanted to go but I don't like formal clothes” said Will “but now that it's beach themed you can go” said Bella “I'm not sure about the dresscode” said Will “your entire wardrobe is beach clothes, don't worry” said Cleo “If you need help picking an outfit call me” said Bella “I think I'll be okay but thanks” said Will. “oh what if we all meet up at one of our houses and get ready together?” Cleo suggested “oh that'll be fun” said Emma.

Rikki was just walking home from getting some accessories for the beach party outfit and of course Zane appeared again only to ask “so at what time do I pick you up?” Rikki rolled her eyes and said “never. Look I can't stand you and for the record if you ever try to hit on me again I won't just tell you to fuck off. Now go away before I change my mind and maim you.” “okay no need to get so aggressive” said Zane and proceeded to go away. Rikki sighed and put her headphones back in to listen to some music and drown out the noise of the world.  
The beach party was a success, there was a pop-up cocktail bar that Emma organised and a small stage so Bella could do a set with the band she played with at the cafe regularly, it was peaceful and fun until someone spilled a drink on Will and he tried to discreetly use his power to banish the orange-mango juice that soaked his shirt but without much success, Rikki saw his distress and dried the spot, leaving an orange stain behind on Will's light blue shirt “sorry” said Rikki “it should wash out.” “it's okay, I'll get to that later, thanks though”. “that was close though.” said Tyler when he came back from getting himself and Will a juice and Will told him briefly what happened.   
“I think I could practise that with a wet cloth, drawing the water out of the fibres and maybe then move to stain removal”said Will when Cleo, Emma, Bella joined him and caught up, Tyler and Rikki to go home. “neat. Yeah practise helps a lot.” said Cleo “after a few tries I could get the dishes to do themselves, maybe you could get the stain-soap to move without having to get wet.” “I did managed to wash my hands without flopping over.” said Will “but never in public.” he quickly added when the others were about to tell him off for taking the risk of growing a tail in public. 

After the friends walked everyone home Will tried to get the juice stain out of his shirt and while he did take the precaution of sitting down he managed not to get a tail, he took a photo and texted the groupchat 'I didn't grow a tail! It worked'. 'neat' Cleo replied


	14. Moon pool investigation and whale watching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The five merpeople try to find out what the tentacle wants and do some scientific investigation.

Will, Tyler Bella, Emma, Rikki and Cleo decided to go to the moonpool again to try and find out more, but took their time to swim around the reef and look at the animals there. “it feels really warm here” said Bella when they arrived at the moonpool “I think it is.”said Cleo “and more humid.” said Emma “it is a volcano” said Will “but I doubt it's that” said Rikki “something here has changed” “I have some instruments with me.” said Tyler “here's the thermometer” he handed Cleo a rectangular device with a small cable for the sensor sticking out “thanks. it's definitely warmer than usual” said Cleo “and the electro magnetic field is really strong” said Tyler “oh and look, the compass Lewis gave me” said Cleo and held it up for everyone to see “it used to spin in here now it points south” “so something has changed” said Tyler “but why?” asked Emma “are you really convinced this stuff will give us answers?” asked Rikki “because this place is magical, you can't just measure” “so what do you think?” asked Bella “ you're the one who the tentacle listened to” said Emma “go on” said Cleo and waited. Rikki turned to the wall with the waterfall and at first nothing happened and then she said “I can definitely feel something, there's energy and lots of it. This place feels alive”. “like a full moon?” asked Cleo “no, like something's awakening”. “we need to come back for the next full moon which is tomorrow.” said Emma “ that's the only way we'll find out more”. “and Tyler you better not come” said Rikki “it could be dangerous.” “ask Lewis if you have doubts” saod Cleo “he spent a night here because we got moon-struck and our newly boosted powers were too much to handle”. “okay. But please text me when it's all done” said Tyler “Will call me after okay?”  
Will promised to call and they decided to swim back and go home.

At the next full moon the merpeople went to mako to once and for all find out what the tentacle and all the strange change were about. As the moon approached Emma,Bella, Rikki, Cleo and Will placed their necklaces in the small basin again and went into the moonpool when the tentacle appeared. The water former a tube around the five friends and with some help the watercolumn stood stable and slowly filled with water and lifted them to the top of the cone “wow” said Will when they reached the top “there's some glittery rocks here” said Cleo. “so what now?” asked Rikki “we wait?” suggested Emma. As the moon reached the point directly above them a beam of light engulfed them and lowered them back down and down to the bottom of the moon pool where they saw a floor of blue crystals covered in a thin layer of white sand that glistened in the moon light.   
As the moon passed the moon pool returned to normal but had left a rectangular thing on the edge of the pool. “what's that?”asked Will “it's the diary I threw into the moon pool years ago when Kim almost found out we're mermaids.”said Cleo “why did it re-appear now?” asked Emma “I don't know” said Rikki “what is in the diary?”asked Bella “I drew my tail and wrote about being a mermaid.” said Cleo “putting it in a book was a bad idea.” “what do we do with it now?” asked Emma “I'm all for putting it back down there” said Rikki “but what if it comes back up or gets found?” asked Cleo “we could find a gap in the rocks down in the moonpool and Cleo you could hide it there” suggested Will. Cleo grabbed the diary and dove down to stuff the book into a strangely fitting gap between the rocks that dissapeared the second Cleo pushed the book in “It's gone. The rock swallowed it.” she said after coming up again “so that was the thing the tentacle bothered us about” said Rikki in disbelief “Cleo's old diary?” “yeah, apparently.” said Emma “now let's put our necklaces back on and swim home” So Rikki steam-dried herself and the other four. Everyone picked their necklace up and put it on, just as they went back into the pool. Will called Tyler to tell him what happened and assure him that he's okay.

One afternoon everyne gathered in Bella's back yard, Lewis had also come as well as Tyler   
“I still don't believe that mako island bothered us about some old notes” said Rikki “but what other reason would there be?” asked Cleo “the moon pool spat a book back up?” said Lewis in disbelief “I think we should drop it” said Emma “because we can't keep worrying about that and I want to have a nice summer” said Rikki “I still want to see if the instruments behave the same as they did a while back” said Tyler “if that's okay with you”. “yea sure. But please no more rock samples”said Bella “I promise” said Tyler “we can also compare the new information with what I gathered over the past two years” offered Lewis “but first we could go for a swim” suggested Rikki “there are some whales visiting and I want to see them” said Will   
The humpback whales were not really interested in the five merpeople and two humans in diving gear, the friends spent a while whale-watching under water at a safe distance. When they decided to swim back Will and Cleo gave Tyler and Lewis a piggyback to mako where Tyler had anchored his boat with a box of instruments to measure temperature, electric currents and magnetic fields.   
The results of Lewis' and Tyler's investigations showed the nearly same results as a month prior.   
“and now the compass” said Lewis “this used to spin really fast and now it's almost still.” then tyler looked at the magnetometer and Cleo said “yeah it pointed south last time I checked” “the magnetic field is lower than last time. I think it's slowly getting back to normal here.” said tyler “so no more scary water tentacles?” asked Bella “probably” said Lewis “but we can't be 100% sure” “But don't do more tests here, mako is not a lab!” said Rikki defensively “I won't” Lewis promised “and neither will I, especially considering what happened last time” said Tyler.


End file.
